The North Korean authorities have recently dispatched a large number of workers to China, Daily NK has learned. Amid a recent improvement in Beijing-Pyongyang relations and a weakening in the UN Security Council’s network for monitoring sanctions against the North, North Korea appears to be moving aggressively to send more workers overseas.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a source in China told Daily NK on Tuesday that the North Korean authorities have been sending large batches of additional workers to China since the end of April.
Dozens or even hundreds of workers have been entering China in each batch, with one or two thousand workers making the move since the end of April, the source estimated.
The new North Korean workers have been put to work right away at clothing and electronics parts factories in China’s Jilin Province. Chinese consular officials went around inspecting the factories where the workers would be assigned at the beginning of April, shortly before the workers were to be deployed to China.
The new workers have generally been entering China by crossing into Jilin Province from North Korea’s North Hamgyong Province, either from Namyang, in Onsong County, to Tumen or from Musan County to Nanping.
Even though the factories employing North Koreans are clustered in Dandong, Liaoning Province, no new workers have crossed into Dandong from Sinuiju so far, according to the source.
Dandong and Sinuiju, as the cities that handle the most North Korea-China trade, allow various forms of transportation, including buses, trucks and freight trains. But the area is also easily accessible to Chinese and foreigners, which leaves it vulnerable to surveillance. That is why new North Korean workers are not being sent directly from Sinuiju to Dandong, the source explained.
But in the border towns of Tumen and Nanping, in Jilin Province, there are strict security checkpoints and searches that make the area difficult for even Chinese people to access. That is why more shipments of workers and goods that contravene sanctions against North Korea are taking place in that area.
China more proactive about worker dispatches after dissolution of U.N. expert panel
The assignment of new workers to China began shortly after last month’s visit to North Korea by Zhao Leji, the chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress and the third-ranking member of the Chinese Communist Party. North Korea and China reached an agreement about person-to-person exchange in their high-level deliberations, and the worker assignments followed that agreement,” the source said.
In an article about Zhao’s visit to North Korea on Apr. 13, North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun said that North Korea had “held a frank discussion [with China] about important issues of mutual interest related to expanding and strengthening exchange and cooperation in a wide range of areas.”
The phrase “exchange and cooperation in a wide range of areas” may refer to sending new workers to China in violation of U.N. Security Council sanctions.
Significantly, an expert panel under the U.N. Security Council Sanctions Committee on North Korea was dissolved on Apr. 30 after Russia vetoed a plan to extend the panel’s mandate in March. Since then, China has been more proactive than before about allowing new North Korean workers to be assigned to the country.
“Even after the borders were reopened after COVID-19, China had not been allowing North Korean workers to enter the country. But China is allowing that now because it recently restored relations with North Korea and due to the fact that sanctions against the North are less of a liability,” the source said.
Since factories in Liaoning Province also need more workers from North Korea, it may be possible for those factories to hire North Korean workers indirectly even if they cannot come directly through the Dandong–Sinuiju route.
“Since last year, clothing companies and electronics companies in Liaoning Province have been sending workers back home without bringing on any new workers. They’re running short on labor, so workers who enter China through Nanping or Tumen [in Jilin Province] could end up being hired in Liaoning Province,” the source said.
Translated by David Carruth. Edited by Robert Lauler.
Daily NK works with a network of sources living in North Korea, China, and elsewhere. Their identities remain anonymous for security reasons. For more information about Daily NK’s network of reporting partners and information-gathering activities, please visit our FAQ page here.
Please send any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
May 16, 2024 at 02:00PM
by DailyNK(North Korean Media)